“Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you. They will do all this to you because of me, for they have rejected the one who sent me.”
John 15:20-21 NLT
How was it that when God sent His Son, Jesus, to His own people, the Jews, that they refused to recognise Him? They had all the Old Testament prophecies. They had the expectation that the arrival of their Messiah was imminent. And yet they rejected Him, and, worse, they persecuted Him. Everywhere Jesus went, there seemed to be a group of Pharisees and religious lawyers and leaders hanging onto His every word, looking for opportunities to kill Him. In John 10:31-32, we read, “Once again the people picked up stones to kill him. Jesus said, “At my Father’s direction I have done many good works. For which one are you going to stone me?””. Jesus’ claim “… Then you will know and understand that the Father is in me, and I am in the Father”” (John 10:38b) was a stumbling block for the Jews. In that culture, anyone who blasphemed God had to be stoned to death, as the Jews knew from Leviticus 10:16, “Anyone who blasphemes the Name of the Lord must be stoned to death by the whole community of Israel. Any native-born Israelite or foreigner among you who blasphemes the Name of the Lord must be put to death“. When Jesus claimed to be God, people started to pick up stones, because He didn’t fit the stereotype of what they thought their Messiah would be like, and therefore this “Man” was blaspheming.
Jesus’ message to His people was so counter to their culture that they couldn’t accept it, especially as they didn’t recognise the Man who was delivering it as being God’s Son. But then they had the problem of all the miracles that Jesus performed. The introduction from Nicodemus, when he came to see Jesus late one evening, was recorded in John 3:2, “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you”“. Here was a Jewish leader who knew Jesus had something special, but he was trying to reconcile in his mind his expectations from a culture steeped in the Jewish Law against what was unfolding day by day before his eyes. We’re grateful for Nicodemus, because in response to his seeking after the truth, we received Jesus’ mission-defining verse, John 3:16.
So, Jesus was persecuted by His own people. But He carried on with His mission, preaching to crowds of people as the arrival of the Cross got ever closer. But Jesus warned His disciples that they too would be persecuted, and it would be a natural thing for unbelieving people to do. Sin and wickedness is deeply rooted within human beings and was then as well. Any message that confronted man’s natural state would end up with a push back, so violent that it would sometimes lead to death. In the early days of the church it wasn’t long before the persecution of the disciples, now Apostles, started. Acts 4:3, “They arrested [Peter and John]and, since it was already evening, put them in jail until morning.” And then in Acts 5:26a, 40b, we read, “The captain went with his Temple guards and arrested the apostles, … They called in the apostles and had them flogged. Then they ordered them never again to speak in the name of Jesus, and they let them go”. The disciples were indeed persecuted, as Jesus had warned them. And in these early days of the church, this was just a start.
Fast forward to today, and we can see what is happening in the world. Persecuted Christians abound. They have committed no crime other than to believe in the Lord Jesus for their future. A visit to the website “Open Doors” will introduce the scale of the problem. But, we pilgrims have to accept that persecution is part of our mission as we share our faith with others. We must expect people to ridicule us, to ostracise us and even attack us as we go about our business of being salt and light in our communities. But we remember that there is a great reward awaiting us one day. We are in the process of storing up treasure in Heaven, and all those who attack us will one day be held to account. The scales of justice will one day have to be balanced.
After being flogged we read, “The apostles left the high council rejoicing that God had counted them worthy to suffer disgrace for the name of Jesus” (Acts 5:41). We do not expect physical “floggings” but many in the secular societies in which we live will look for opportunities to harass us, pushing back as we share God’s words of love and grace. Some have questioned our effectiveness and missional believers if we don’t suffer any persecution, no matter how little it is. In fact, would the world around us recognise us as men and women who have been with Jesus? Hmmm…..
Father God. We have treasure inside of us that we must expose for the benefit of those round us. The Gospel is indeed Good News, as is the message about Your Son Jesus. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 